Heating mascara applicators have only recently begun to appear on the market, and their presence in the marketplace may grow significantly in years to come. One impediment to market acceptance is lack of familiarity with a heated mascara application. In order to promote this relatively new type of product, vendors might like to offer potential customers, a sample of heated mascara in the store. The main problems associated with offering free samples in the store include the need to keep costs down, and the need to maintain sanitary conditions for customers. Sanitary conditions can be maintained by providing each potential customer with her own reservoir of product and her own, never-before-used applicator. Costs may be kept low by reducing the amount of packaging that is disposed after each product sampling. Because heated mascara applicators are considerably more expensive to manufacture than conventional, non-heated applicators, the idea of providing each potential customer with a free sample may be prohibitive. The present invention addresses this problem, and makes offering a free sample of heated mascara sanitary and cost effective.